International Rationalist Conference

Confirm your participation today by email

Count down begins for the Third International Rationalist Conference. There are only 50 more days for the Conference to begin.

We request you to confirm your participation by reply mail and book the flights. Please ask your travel agent / airline representative to provide all information about the reduced charges for February (after the peak season!). For making flight reservations, you need not buy the ticket now. Once your participation is ensured, all other formalities can follow eventually.

The Conference Registration form is given at the end of this mail. Please take a print out, fill it up and send it to: The Conference Secretariat, International Rationalist Conference, 779, Pocket 5, Mayur Vihar Phase 1, New Delhi 110 091, India. The checks are to be drawn favoring "International Rationalist Conference".

Register by email immediately: Due to the heavy pressure of seasonal greeting cards on the postal system all over the world, we understand that there could be delays in postal materials to arrive. Therefore it is important to inform us by email about your participation.

Accommodation: Details regarding accommodation facilities available will be informed in the first week of January to all those who register. Accommodation is available near the venue ranging from US $ 20 to US $ 80 on the basis of facilities offered.

Jan Loeb Eisler speaks on Therapeutic Touch

Jan Loeb Eisler, Vice President of International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) and Board member of Council for Secular Humanism (CSH) will speak on Therapeutic Touch during the forthcoming International Rationalist Conference in New Delhi.

Creative and vigorous, over the years Eisler has overtaken numerous responsibilities: Vice President of the Bertrand Russel Society, Atheists of Florida board, Founder and president of Humanist Association: St. Petersburg, and editor of Family Matters (newsletter of the Secular Family Network). She was formerly member of the board and executive committee of the American Humanist Association.

"Ready for the Battle": Talk and Demonstration by Richard Saunders

Richard Saunders from the Australian Skeptics will be presenting a talk and demonstration during the Third International Rationalist Conference. His presentation is called "Ready for the Battle".

Whether it's being cornered in social situations by someone with an axe to grind or being challenged to a formal debate, Skeptics and Rationalists are expected to be experts on every topic from acupuncture to zombies. This talk is a guide on how to conduct yourself in such a situation and how to make your opponent think objectively about their own point of view.

Saunders will also discuss the development of 'The Great Skeptic CD', a complete digital compendium of some 4000 pages and 20 years of discussions and insights from Australian Skeptics.

Dr. Mark Newbrook speaks on Sanskrit, Vedic Culture and Historical Linguistics

Mark Newbrook, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at Monash University in Melbourne (Australia) will speak on Sanskrit, Vedic Culture and Historical Linguistics during the Third International Rationalist Conference. His main research interests involve English dialectology (including Asian Englishes), historical linguistics and 'skeptical linguistics'. He was born near Liverpool (UK) and studied at Oxford and Reading Universities, going on to lecture in Singapore, Hong Kong and Perth before moving to Monash in 1990.

There is a long-standing debate between some Indologists and the majority of Indo-Europeanists over the relationship between Sanskrit and the rest of the Indo-European language family – and hence the ‘Aryan Invasion’ theory has recently been stirred up again through some new publications. One line of argument goes on to promote the case for Sanskrit as a primeval language. Stephen Knapp’s Proof of Vedic Culture’s Global Existence treats Vedic scriptures as historically accurate and argues that India was the center of Earth’s oldest civilization. To what extent this argument can be taken seriously?

Listen great lectures! Meet interesting people! Enjoy a memorable visit to India, the land of Taj Mahal and other monuments of breath-taking beauty.

We welcome you to join rationalists, humanists, atheists, skeptics and secularists from all parts of India and around the world in the mega event -- International Rationalist Conference

Sanal Edamaruku in Japanese TV on 26 December

Sanal Edamaruku, President of Rationalist International and Secretary General of Indian Rationalist Association will be featured in Nippon TV, the largest Japanese T V channel, in the special Year Ending Program entitled "Cho-Tokudai Nama-Hoso Plus 1" on 26 December 2001. The program that starts at 5.30 p.m. local time focuses, among other things, the urban myth of monkey-man that spread scare in Delhi early this year and how Indian Rationalists stopped it.

The myth of the monkey man and the response of the Indian Rationalist Association which had been internationally reported at the time of the events in May 2001 doesn’t stop to attract world wide interest. On 25 October 2001 BBC One in the UK presented the story and an interview with Sanal Edamaruku in the program: "The Secret Life of Ghosts and Werewolves".

For more details about the monkey-man mania that engulfed Delhi in May 2001, please see Bulletin # 72 in the archive of Bulletins. (www.rationalistinternational.net/ archive/rationalist_2001/72.htm)

Rationalist International Bulletin in German language

Rationalist International now publishes the online bulletin in English and Spanish (covering Spain and South America). If any of the readers wish to get the Spanish edition as well, please send a mail to Racionalista-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. The German edition is in preparation. Those who are interested to get the German edition also, may send a blank mail to info@rationalistinternational.net with the subject line "subscribe German edition".